August 1704 (7)
= La Gloire du Roi - August 1704 = Weather this month *Storms continue in/around India. *Heavy rain in the Pacific. Events Of Importte Pertaining To Recent Matters Dresden *Rather indignantly Chancellor Baron Wilhelm von Baden claimed that the Imperial Army had never fully ceased military operations against Saxony, by which he means they had continued to blockade Dresden in an attempt to starve the Saxon capital into submission, as openly admitted by Graf von Mercy only last month! Yorktown *Following a conversation with Paul Jones at the HWIC Trade Mission Office, the general merchant in charge of this office has openly declared himself to be a patriotic member of the Sons of Liberty. The merchant's name is Mister Obadiah Smith. Delhi *Ambassador Riza Kuli of Persia has requested a private audience with the Great Moghul of India, Aurangzab of Malwa? Cahokiai *Marie Christine de Noailles, the wife of the Duc de Gramont, has revealed that she consulted an Indian seer who told her France will lose her war against England in the face of a great gathering of tribes! Lisbon *A mass has been said by Patriarch Tomás de Almeida, Cardinal of Lisbon in the Cathedral of the Sé to give thanks to Almighty God for the reconquest of Goa. His Most Faithful Majesty King Pedro II attended in person. Akkerman *On being told by his advisers that there is no shipyard in Akkerman, the Hopsdar Prince Mihail Racovita first of all looked puzzled, then incredulous, and finally offended. Embarrassed by his own staff in front of the representatives of the HWIC, he points stiffly across the harbour towards the Racoviti Dockyard, which has been constructing fine ships since 1701, not least of all the royal yacht Molda. “Then what do you call that?”he asks in a low growl. “Gentlemen, I suggest you attempt to recover your positions in my opinion by from now on showing the utmost consideration and hospitality to our honoured guests, who have travelled so far in order to enhance our skills and widen our trade horizons, try to impress them with your efficiency. I shall wait to see what you can achieve before I make any final decision about the continued employment of such arrant imbeciles.” Versailles *Prince Frederick Augustus of Saxony has, in reply to Prince Eugene's recent announcements stated that he agrees to pay £500,000 in February 1705 and a further £500,000 in February 1706 once he has confirmation from Austria that Russia has sent the other required £1,000,000 to Austria thus covering all reparation payments. Once Austria confirms this means peace is restored and the war over, he will gladly order his army to cease military operations and then come before the Emperor in order to swear his fealty to the Empire anew. *Freiherr von Reldburg, Chevalier d’Arts Diplomatique looked deeply agitated and sweated profusely as he came before the King of France. Steadying himself and letting out a long deep breath, he composed his manner and declared that Austria declares war on France with effect from 1st September 1704. "The reason being France's unreasonable war aims against England. Austria has no claims against France. Rather it wishes to see a reasonable peace negotiated based on the cause of the war which was a minor trading issue." You could have heard a pin drop. His Most Christian Majesty stood up and walked out of the audience chamber, later that day he left Versailles to go on pilgrimage to Paray-le-Monial. *With a grim expression Commissaire de Maréchaussée, Josef Fouché has informed the French court that documents pertaining to the French order of battle in Britain have been stolen from, or at least misplaced in, the Army Ministry. He has uncovered no sign of a breakin nor traces suggesting a possible theft or burglary, but he is concerned enough... Charles Town *Hundreds of French Huguenots who had fled the district of Pensacola some while ago have been on the streets of Charles Town and loudly declared their allegiance to both King William IV and the patriotic Sons of Liberty, being fearful of a French Catholic invasion and being thus desirous to defend their new-found liberty to the death! One of their number, Jeanne D'Albret, has been popularly declared the Son of Liberty in charge of the defence of Charles Town. Stockholm *Count Bengt Rosenhare, Lord Chamberlain to King Charles XII of Sweden, felt it his duty to point out that technically at least Russia and Sweden are still at war since the Tsar has not yet replied to an offer made by letter back in November. “Russian armies have no business invading Estonia if the Tsar desires peace with Sweden. Providentially until now the shooting war has slackened so much that it has effectively ceased, but the terms of peace were never confirmed by him by letter and more to the point Reval was never returned by Russia to the Swedish Crown. If his intention is to take Estonia and then return it to the Swedish Crown, then His Majesty King Charles grants permission for his armies to invade Estonia. However, the terms of our peace include the fact that Estonia is Swedish, just as Ingria becomes Russian.” *Charles XII and his Royal Council has heard the opinion of Vice-Admiral Baron Hans Appelman, Port-Admiral of Stockholm, that Count Babin and Count Belous are probably Russian agents and the so-called 'revolt' and supposed anti-Russian attacks are merely a front to enable the Russians to take over more Swedish land. "Why, they did not even set fire to the Russian market!" he pointed out. "They just took it into their hands!" Reval *The gates of Reval have been closed, even to traders! *The Swedish Baltic Fleet of 27 ship of the line and four auxiliaries has appeared off Reval. A few days later later the Russian Baltic Fleet of 31 lineships also turned up. Admiral Apraxin, commanding the Russians aboard Predestination, pulled his fleet further away having not at all expected to find the Swedish Navy at hand. His counterpart, Rear-Admiral Gustav Bonde held his position off Reval and watched the Russians from his own flagship Borgholm. Chatham *The Duke d'Anjou has arrived on the Thames/Medway waters with 26 ship of the line which have taken on the duty of blockading Chatham. Behind his ships ten bomb ketches were prepared for shooting and then lobbed incendiaries overhead into Chatham. El Escorial *Having departed Reims on warm terms with the local officiaries, Prince Alexandru and Princess Tatiana progressed to El Escorial where they are now awaiting Cardinal Portocarrero's pleasure and permission to enter the royal court of Spain. *Fears are permeating the corridors of El Escorial that if the King of France manages to overthrow the English state, that Spain will be next as he desires to put a Bourbon on the throne here. Rome & Italy *After gazing a while at a blue and white life-size statue of the Madonna, Pope Clement XI announced that in principle he would be willing to serve God's flock by serving in the role of titular diplomatic head of the Catholic League. On hearing this Cardinal Alphonso, Bishop of Madrid could not hide his absolute delight! *Spanish diplomats in Turin, Valetta, and Florence have been lobbying the respective courts in the hope of getting the states of Savoy, Malta, and Tuscany to join the League. *Already showing support for the fledgling League, the Queen Dowager of Spain, Mariana, Viceroy of Naples is forming a Legion of St. George officered by men of her own honour guard and blessed by that great crusader against slavery, Pamfilo Narvaez, Archbishop of Naples. Some of the Legion's rank and file are ex-slaves of the Barbary Corsairs ransomed back from North Africa's bazaars. The Archbishop has begun to say in his sermons that His Most Christian Majesty Louis XIV of France has abandoned the Catholic cause in favour of alliances with Russian Orthodoxy and Islam. Edinburgh *An English recruiting party had not long arrived in the Scottish capital before the sergeant and his men found themselves under arrest and in care of the Edinburgh Town Watch. *The Lord Chancellor of Scotland, James Ogilvy, Earl of Findlater and Seafield has revealed that several regiments have been constituted at the behest of King William for defence of the realm of Scotland against popish invaders. These are, namely, the Cameronian Regiment, the Highland Regiment, the Black Watch, the King's Own Scottish Borders Regiment, the Fife and Forfar Dragoons, and the Ayrshire Dragoons. Narva *Alexander, Grand Duke of Ingria, has warned that his duchy will not go the same way as Estonia but stands ready to defend itself from foreign invasion. He also stated that 'I do not know who Count Adam of Ingria might be, but if he comes here expecting to take over the ducal throne from me he can expect a hot reception!' Kingston *In Kingston, Msr. Pierre Le Gros, Director & Chandler of the HWIC, announced that the Honourable West India Company has signed the Treaty of Tobago with France. Vice-Admiral Andrew Graves was outraged to hear of this while the French were threatening Kingston, but was even more offended that the officers and men of the Jamaica Regiment stationed ashore seemed to be in no hurry to do anything about such blatant treachery! Indeed HWIC flags popped up all over the place, having been hoisted over Bellevue Manor (which overlooks the town), and over the HWIC's magazines, shipyard and chandlery. Even the Red Rose bordello got in on the act, the madam in charge concluding that this may offer some sort of safety from French cannon balls! Similarly, Belles Plantation on the outskirts sported the red and white colours of the HWIC as did at least one substantial property in the better part of town. Finally, the local branch of the Royal Bank of Africa followed suit! *Sir Jeremy Godolphin, England’s Governor of Jamaica has sent messages to the French at Bull Bay and also to their Navy asking for a ceasefire. Having done so he called a meeting at his humble home, which is just a plain house rather than anything grand in stark comparison to places such as Bellevue, and several eminent gentlemen (and the odd lady) packed into his drawing room. He plainly stated that he was taking personal command of the English forces, a statement which the officers of the Jamaica Regiment said they had assumed was the case all along! However Sir Jeremy, who is admittedly somewhat hard of hearing, seems to have not heard them. Rear-Admiral Daniel Kennedy, who had been sent from the harbour in order to represent the Royal Navy, concurred - he granted that the governor was the legal Crown authority in Kingston. While the meeting was still being held a messenger returned from Bull Bay, relaying the compliments of the Marquis de Créquy who wished to inform Sir Jeremy and his officers that an assault was imminent and would not to delayed nor withstood, so in the interests of all he proposed Sir Jeremy surrender to avoid what would surely be a most unfortunate event. Sir Jeremy seemed sad, he stated his belief the garrison’s situation was impossible and he is going to throw the town and port open. He then sighed deeply and his shoulders slumped. "I have been asked to secure the island under the HWIC’s rule and under that smokescreen get as many of the forces as possible away to fight the Frogs on more even terms, but I have to tell you all that I do not have the authority to hand control over to the HWIC." He seemed to look into the far distance while he said, "I'm sure I said that before..." *Down in the town the next thing to happen was that the men of the Jamaica Regiment smashed up their matchlocks to prevent them falling into the wrong hands and proceeded to Kingston's army camp in order to hopefully collect some promised new flintlock muskets. *An English merchant ship was observed sailing toward Kingston, but on gaining the attention of some cruisers of the blockading French naval forces turn about and sailed back over the horizon. *A delegation of Jamaican townspeople, on learning that a meeting at Sir Jeremy's house was still underway, knocked on the door and petitioned resistance against the French, declaring their loyalty to King William IV and their fear of what will happen to their lives and property should the French gain a victory at Kingston! They could hardly believe it when informed that surrender seemed the only option left! *That very night Lieutenant-General François Joseph, Marquis de Créquy led his musketeers from Bull Bay to Kingston, being guided by the lights of the town houses and by some miracle avoiding getting lost in the hills. They burst into the streets and swamped over them, holding lanterns aloft and taking the surrender of the Jamaica Regiment whose men weren't in receipt of their new muskets in time to fight, even if they had been inclined to do so. It was over quickly, although in Kingston Harbour the English Navy still has ships under its control and prepared to fight. *While Sir Jeremy was taken into French custody he seemed perplexed, and ask some officers of the Jamaica Regiment why they had not made a fighting withdraw? He was informed that they had no weapons, which just served to confuse the elderly gentleman even more. *The following morning five English frigates and a transport close to the quayside struck their colours and surrendered to the French. *At midday a ship's boat came in from the French fleet blockading Kingston via which the English fleet was called on to surrender. Vice-Admiral Andrew Graves replied curtly that it was out of the question! Ashore Créquy insisted that Sir Jeremy to issue an order to the English naval forces to surrender in his capacity as senior Crown official. Sir Jeremy, somewhat befuddled in mind by the turn of events as well as remembering that he had taken direct command of all forces and so was indeed the senior English commander, reluctantly drafted an order telling Vice-Admiral Graves to surrender. This was issued, and by the afternoon Graves and the fleet had complied, although not without first of all expressing his utter fury at being made to do so by Godolphin! However, he was certainly not a man to refuse a direct order. Constantinople *Watching the great ships of the Ottoman Navy glide back as the sun shrank beneath the horizon, Grand Vizier Amcazade Huseyin patiently waited to be taken by rowing boat over to one of the ships. Having climbed aboard he made himself known to one of the captains, and enquired whether the ships were handling any differently in the light of their refit? Captain Hayreddin looked thoughtful. "Not really, they handle the same. I think if our ships were sent further afield they may wear better in foreign oceans, but as a home waters fleet I'm not sure we've benefitted." The Hague *Calling it 'a great triumph against French expansionism' the Dutch Foreign Minister Johann Ostrander let it be known that both Spain and Austria have signed the Treaty of the Hague. *In the States-General of the United Provinces the Treasury Minister William Landseer, an avowed Orangist, has stated that the Stadtholdership of Holland is being conferred on William III of England's successor, William IV. Opinions upon this will no doubt be aired next month, but it was a decision of the provincial assembly of Holland to confer the stewardship on William, Prince of Orange-Nassau. Ulm *Marshal von Stein, standing to the right of Prince Maximillian Emmanuel of Bavaria, addressed the serried ranks of the Bavarian field forces. His words were repeated by officers so that all the soldiers heard the message relayed loud and clear. "The need for discipline at all times on the march is paramount. No incivility towards Wurttemburg citizens is permitted! They are to be as well treated as we would Bavarian citizens. There will be no theft, pillaging, unwarranted destruction, or rape upon pain of death! The armies will carry out the Emperor's will, showing the highest level of discipline. This campaign will not be carried on any longer than necessary and with the least amount of casualties as possible." Chemnitz *The bells of Chemnit'z Lutheran cathedral began to toll, raising the alarm and causing the Saxon army under Marshal Pufendorff to assemble under arms. The reason was this - Prince Eugene had received orders from the Emperor to attack, and was proceeding against the city from the north with the troops of the Reichsarmee of the Northern Circle. Saxon troops lined the garden hedgerows and walls on the unfortified outskirts of Chemnitz, Pufendorff lamenting the oversight which meant he had no cannon to hand. Eugene called his troops to halt and dress ranks, and bringing forward four batteries of field cannon and proceeded to bombard the defenders and the houses along the perimeter. The lighter pieces remained with the dragoons, in line with the 1700 Army Regulations of the Austrian Army. After the preliminaries were done, Eugene ordered forward in absolute silence save for the rattle of their drums the 41 battalions of his first line. At just under 100 yards the Saxons began to engage them with rank fire, which was done coolly and in a disciplined manner by the Saxon musketeers. This was received just as well by the Austrians, who despite taking significant casualties ploughed forward, halting at 50 yards and replying in kind. This was so devastatingly effective that the Saxons, despite their hard training and superb soldiery, snapped and broke, the front line fleeing into the depths of the city! Eugene however held his line firm, allowing Pufendorff to bring up Kommander von Kessler's troops to re-establish a Saxon firing line. After a lull, the firefight resumed as if by mutual consent. This time it was the Austrians who suffered the most, even Eugene had his horse shot from under him. Unable to break the will of the Saxons, Prince Eugene called the attack off and rallied back on his camp while screened by Vaudemont's cuirassiers. Mexico City *Gonzalo Hernandez, Governor of New Spain, has announced that a huge cargo of potatoes is being shipped to Mexico from the mother country, Spain, and reassured the Mexicans that this will mean they have a safe future, free from the threat of starvation, thanks to the guiding hand of Spain and on account of the stable economic situation. London *Having been incited by gentlemen of the Hellburners Club in London, the crews of two barges set off down the Thames from Greenwich with the craft burdened with inflammable materials on a falling tide. Wagers were set, with a certain Sir Christopher promising the lads 500 guineas for each Frenchie lineship destroyed, and 200 if one can be made to run aground. Alas the venture was doomed to failure before it had hardly begun! English Crown soldiers armed with rifles, believing the barge-crews to be Jacobite sympathisers breaking martial law, fired shots over their heads and arrested those pulling the long boats and then the rest of the bargemen, who have been detained at His Majesty's pleasure. *In the Palace of Westminster, while sentries of the Orange-Nassau Regiment stood on vigilant guard duty, several bills were put to the vote at the behest of the Lord Treasurer, James Butler: ? The French peace proposal was presented and to hoots and catcalls loudly rejected by the Lords. ? A bill calling for war with the French and a rejection of French demands was then voted for in a similar manner. ? It was proposed that William IV be confirmed as King of England, and with even more enthusiasm both Lords and Commons agreed to this and gave their loyalty to His Majesty by way of solemn oath. ? It was then proposed war powers be granted to His Majesty the King. Judging by the sudden silence which fell over the Lords this had not been expected. The Duke of Norfolk was observed to shake his head slightly, or was he simply trying to have a small fly decamp from his nose by such a movement? It went to the vote, to the surprise of many the result was not even close - the King has been granted war powers by the Lords and then by the Commons as well. Animated by the debates, in the Lords Richard Dudley, Baron Sutton of Stone raised merry hell raging that the Jacobite predations on the life-blood of the nation are intolerable and that the army had better defeat the French or else! He was loudly applauded and the cry went up for Churchill to march on Bristol and throw the French off English soil for good! *Beat-Jacques von Zurlauben, after being offered service in the Army of England if he and his Swiss mercenaries would transfer, regretfully informed the Duke of Marlborough that none of them are free do so since they surrender on honourable terms, specifically that they would be repatriated to France in return for giving their word not to fight against England in this war. Since these were the terms, Zurlauben claims it would now be quite dishonourable for him and his men to quit the service of France entirely without being given leave to do so by King Louis XIV. Berlin *In words which have been murmured in one shape or form from the Swiss Alps to Magdeburg, from Naples to Stade, Count von Salzburg in Berlin has asserted that Louis XIV seeks to be the Tyrant of Europe and needs to be opposed! Isfahan *The three-day festival Eid-ul-Fitr has been celebrated in grand style in Isfahan. The Shah of Persia and his entire court attended the Masjid-i-Shah Royal Grand Mosque to say the Eid prayer with the congregation, and to hear the sermon. Then Shah Soltan Hussain stood and announced a three day holiday! Each day there was a great banquet at the Palace of the Sublime Gate, and each evening the night sky was filled with fireworks. In the magnificent Naqsh-I Jahan covered market place shopkeepers were paid to hand out food and sweets on demand to the thronging people, while all the banners around the market were replaced with new ones, and colourful silken garlands were hung between the banner poles. There were banners everywhere, above each stall and in the vaulted galleries. In the name of the Shah alms were passed to the poor, along with clothes and food, ensuring that by the third day huge numbers of people were in Isfahan, having come in from the surrounding countryside. Nurnburg *A Bavarian field force under the Count d'Arco arrived south of Nurnburg with four infantry battalions, 8 horse squadrons, and two batteries under command. D'Arco stopped his column and told his men to be brave, 'we are to take this city in the name of Emperor Leopold I due to Duke Eberhard's treachery towards His Sacred Majesty! The same is also happening at Munich!' The walls were held against them by the Wurtemburg garrison, and so with great boldness Count d'Arco deployed his two batteries on open ground close to the old curtain wall and ordered them to breach it. To everyone's surprise after just six days they managed to cause a breach, enabling D'Arco to order General-Major Heinrich Adolf von Wittgenstein to send in the 9th Infantry Regiment to take it. The two battalions went in with brown-coloured bayonets fixed, and the gap was captured very quickly and decisively. That same day a rather bemused Colonel Helmstadt surrendered his sword to Count d'Arco and ended the resistance while admitting himself rather bemused by how easy the Bavarian success had been achieved. Johann Baptiste, Count d’Arco just smiled and confided that, "Ah, sometimes war is like that!" Nurnburg is now under Bavarian rule. Quebec *The Duc de Beaufort, Governor of the Dominion of Canada, returned home after an enjoyable evening at the theatre and was given the shock of his life - there was a man in his rooms! The good duke gave chase with his walking stick, but the rascal escaped through a sash window and made his way into the night unidentified. Beaufort is confident that nothing was taken. He was more disturbed to hear that it is being said in Quebec that his own government at Versailles was behind the attempted burglary of his rooms. It is only an unsubstantiated rumour, but it is an odd one... Chatham *French lookout's on ships off Chatham have observed that repair work has begun to make good the breach of the main curtain wall of Chatham. Shanghai *Upon leaving Yu Yuan Palace, Prince Vasily Golitsyn, the Governor of the Russian Far East and his wife offered personal thanks to Lord Yea for the hospitality and confirmed they shall be returning to Singapore 'to progress the interests of China and Russia in the region.' Stuttgart *The Prince of Bavaria's army loomed into view east of Stuttgart from out of a wooded defile, causing workers attempting to construct new fortifications around the city to down tools and flee. General Dalberg ordered his men to stand-to, and deployed cannon on the walls of the Old Castle while insisting the Wurtemburg foot regiments of Sternenfels' and Herman's remain in the city to contest any Bavarian advance into the streets. Seeing that the city is unfortified the Bavarians attempted to march in. They were dissuaded from doing so by the sight of three battalions of Wurtemburg infantry lining Stuttgart's outer perimeter in preparation to give battle. This seems to have foxed the Prince, who caused have used his artillery to batter down the walls had there been any! Those of the Old Castle were not in view, being within the city itself. Unable to carry out his intended plan, the Prince called a halt to the advance and made camp to consider his options. Dalberg is aware that the Bavarian field army before him numbers 20 infantry battalions, 32 horse squadrons, and 10 artillery batteries. Velha Goa *Commodore Manu Bappoo, previously of the Maharatan Navy, has been made an admiral of the Navy of Portugal and also granted the royal title Prince of India by King Pedro II who sent word of his personal appreciation and that of his subjects of this man's role in the reconquest of Goa. Velha Goa has been reestablished as Portugal's colonial capital of the Estados da Ìndia, which comprises of Portuguese East Africa, Goa, Diu, Daman, Bassein, Chaul, Hooghly, and East Timor. Canterbury *James II, King-in-exile of Great Britain rode into Canterbury causing shockwaves to pass through the Anglican Church, of which Canterbury is the centre. However, James was equally shocked to find that the great Cathedral of Canterbury was in no condition in which to see him crowned! He forthwith put forward instructions to renovate this place. People being Much Admired by the Best in Société *The Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I. *Lord Yea of the Shantung Province of the Heavenly Celestial Manchu Empire. *Mihail Racovita, Hospdar Prince of Moldavia. *Cardinal Portocarrero of the Council of State, Bishop of Toledo, King Of Spain’s Treasurer. *Shah Soltan Hussain Of Persia. *Roger Martel Of The Honourable West India Company, Spain’s Viceroy Of Africa. *Maharaj-Prince Shrimant Rajaram Of The Maharatas. *Tsar Piotr Of Russia. Shipping Lists: Being a Reporte on Knowne Shipping Movements *Three English merchant ships have been lost in Levantine waters. *Two merchantmen, cotton-carriers and again English, are reported lost in the West Indies. *England??s 3rd Fleet of 11 cruisers has set sail from Nieuport. Lloyds Lists: Being a Reporte on Knowne Shipping Losses from Causes Unknowne or Knowne *None. Ambassadorial Appointments *Sent by Portugal to Persia, Francisco Teixeira da Silva. Trade Missions Opened *By the HWIC in Marseilles. Automatically parsed by LGDRParser v1.0 Category:Game 7